


Coffee and Dates

by nixster627



Series: Malex Week 2020 [2]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: 4+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, Malex Week 2020, so Michael needs an assist, they are both oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25263076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nixster627/pseuds/nixster627
Summary: Four times Michael and Alex were completely oblivious to each other’s feelings and the one time they admitted it to each other (with a small assist).Written for Day 2 of Malex Week 2020: Trope Day
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Malex Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828651
Comments: 9
Kudos: 73





	Coffee and Dates

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a 5+1 but when I went to number them I realized there was only four so I just rolled with it.

**One**  
For the past week, Michael has gone out of his way to get coffee from a coffee shop that is in the opposite direction from his job because the barista is cute, but Michael can’t tell if he is actually flirting with Michael or just being friendly.

Michael wants to ask him out so badly, but he also doesn’t want to embarrass himself if the guy turns out to be straight, or even just not into him specifically. He keeps dropping hints to see if Alex (according to his name tag) has any sort of interest in him, but either Alex is really bad at taking a hint or Michael is really bad at leaving them.

This morning, he and Alex are the only ones in the shop. Sometimes one or two other people will be lingering around, but not that many people are out and about at 6 AM. The brightside about having to wake up early because you get your coffee from the opposite direction than your job is the privacy that you get with the barista.

As soon as Alex sees him walk in, he calls out, “One small coffee with two sugars coming right up.”

But, before Alex can actually start making it, Michael rushes in to correct him, “Actually, I feel like switching it up today. What would you recommend?”

Alex seemed thoughtful for a moment before he said, “Well, it depends on what you like, I can’t really tell much from you since you always order the same thing.”

Michael decided to take this as an opportunity to learn more about Alex. “How about you make me your favorite drink and we’ll see how much I like your taste,” he said with his most flirtatious smile.

But, Alex just turned away and said over his shoulder, “Okay, but I should probably warn you-”

“Don’t,” Michael cut him off before he could finish his sentence, “I want it to be a surprise.”

It took Alex longer than usual to make the drink today, probably because he didn’t just have to pour from the pre-made coffee pot. Michael tried to make conversation once, but Alex was completely focused on mixing the drink.

Once Alex was done making the drink, Michael paid for it and reached to take it from Alex, but Alex pulled it back and said, “Before you drink this, I just want to say that I know my tastes are kind of eclectic, so just remember that you asked for this.”

Alex looked nervous when Michael went to take a sip and Michael was actually surprised when he tasted it. It tasted much sweeter than what he was used to, so that took a second to adjust to, but he also found that he could taste something else, he wanted to say that it was fruity, but he couldn’t figure out what fruit someone would want to put in their coffee.

By his third sip, he looked up to find Alex looking at the floor with a kicked-puppy look on his face, when he realized that he never actually gave his opinion on the drink.

“It’s pretty good,” Michael said and Alex looked up at him with hope on his face. “I would never be able to tell you what it is, but it is delicious,” Michael says as he opens the to-go cup to try and see what is inside. It is a lot lighter than the coffee he normally drinks, but it just looks like if you were to put a lot of creamer in your coffee.

“It’s a white chocolate raspberry mocha,” Alex responds with a huge smile, teeth and all, with the knowledge that Michael actually likes it.

Michael spends the rest of his walk to the garage thinking about that smile, and if he doesn’t get himself under control soon, the rest of the guys are going to make fun of him for it.

**Two**  
Ever since the white chocolate raspberry mocha, Alex has been making him a new drink every day so that he can “expand his palette” as he gave Alex as an excuse. In reality, he just wants to see what drinks Alex likes to make and the way his smile lights up the room when he makes a drink that Michael likes.

Some of the drinks were a success with Michael, like the caramel macchiato, and some were a disaster, like the Avolatte, which is some type of latte with avocado in it, and some he didn’t have an opinion on one way or the other.

Today, he went to the coffee shop with his sister because she wanted to spend the whole day together, but he also didn’t want to leave Alex hanging since he has been going to this shop every day for almost a month now. He realized how big of a mistake this was very quickly.

First of all, he forgot that his sister’s favorite pastime is meddling with his life. Second of all, he knows that if Isobel finds out about his crush on Alex, she will do something about it, and from what he has learned about him, Alex is very shy and would definitely not like that.

When they enter the shop he sees Alex smile at him before he catches sight of Isobel and his smile falters a little before he smiles brightly again, but when they get closer to the counter Michael can tell that his smile is a little strained.

“Hey, Michael,” Alex says, duller than he usually greets Michael so Michael gives him a confused look which Alex takes as his cue to tell Michael about his drink of the day. “I’m going to make you a chai latte today and even though it has some tea in it, I think you are going to like it.”

Alex then promptly turns around to start making his drink without the usual small talk that they have been doing for the past few weeks and that confuses Michael even more until he turns to see the thoughtful look on his sister’s face.

“What are you thinking so hard about over there?” Michael asks her as she continues to stare at Alex’s back.

She looks over at him then and gives him one of those looks where she stares into his soul, but then she looks away and says, “Nothing, just making some interesting observations.”

Michael rolls his eyes, but lets it go for now because Alex has finished making his drink. As Alex hands Michael his drink, he notices Isobel standing there again and startles.

With an apologetic look on his face, he says, “I’m sorry, I was so busy making Michael’s drink that I forgot to ask what you wanted.”

Isobel waves him off and says, “No problem, I will just have what my brother is having.” 

She puts a very heavy emphasis on the brother part, Michael notes, and it confuses him, but it seems to mean something to Alex because he makes a face like he has just realized something before he blushes and turns to make Isobel’s drink.

_Did he blush because he likes Isobel?_ Michael wonders as they wait for Isobel’s drink, _and he wasn't talking to us earlier because he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of her._

Michael has to admit that that brings down his spirit for the whole asking-him-out thing, but he guesses he should have realized that Alex was probably straight before. _He could be bi like me, but he obviously likes Isobel so it's not like it matters._

Alex brings Isobel her order and she thanks him before they are walking out and Michael is feeling down for the rest of the day after his revelation.

**Three**  
Michael took a week break from the coffee shop when he thought that Alex liked Isobel, but when Isobel confronted him about why he was so sad lately he decided it was best to just tell her the truth and called him an idiot and told him that Alex didn’t have a crush on her.

So here he is a week later with Isobel again because she wants to prove to him that Alex does not like her like Michael thinks he does.

As soon as they walked in, Isobel strutted over to the counter even though Alex had yet to see them. Alex turned around when Isobel stopped at the counter and, even though Michael hung back, Alex’s eyes landed on him first and he smiled at him.

Alex only looked away after Isobel cleared her throat and he realized that she was in front of him.

“Hello, Alex,” Michael recognized the tone that Isobel was using as her ‘flirting voice’ and he held his breath to see what she would do. “I have a question for you?”

“About our coffee?” Alex asked as if he couldn’t tell that Isobel was flirting with him. Which, in all fairness, if you didn’t know Isobel you might not have been able to tell that she was flirting yet.

“Actually, I was more curious about you,” Isobel said as she looked Alex up and down so that it was obvious that she was checking him out, “say over dinner?”

“What?” Alex asked and Michael had to admit that he looked genuinely confused about what Isobel was asking him.

“Like on a date,” Isobel clarified, rolling her eyes for a second before remembering that she was supposed to be flirting with him.

Alex attempted to stammer out a response for a few seconds before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “While the offer is appreciated, I’m actually,” Alex struggled for a second before he finally let out a strangled “gay.”

Isobel dropped the act and straightened up, then responded with, “Well in that case, I will take a small café mocha and Michael will take one of those mystery drinks that you are always making him.”

Alex looked completely caught off-guard by her change in demeanor, but went on to prepare their order anyway.

When he finished the drinks, he still looked very confused, but he waved Michael over and placed the drink in his hand. “It’s a red velvet latte. It’s got a lot of chocolate in it so be prepared,” Alex said, blushing when their fingers touched.

Michael assumed that his blush was embarrassment over his sister asking him out, so he decided to apologize for her coming out of nowhere like that.

Alex looked surprised for a moment before quickly stammering out a “It’s fine,” and getting back to work.

Isobel and Michael left, with Isobel telling him the whole way home how she was right and he was an idiot, but she would never tell him what he was being an idiot about. At least now he knew Alex was into guys, that was a win in his book. Now, he just had to figure out how to get Alex to like him.

**Four**  
Michael’s plan to get Alex to fall in love with him started the next day. Online, he found an article that had questions that were supposed to gradually lead to love. He would start with the easier questions and move on to the more in depth ones.

While Alex was making his daily drink, he decided to go ahead and ask the first question.

“Hey, Alex?” Michael asked and waited for Alex to look over in his direction before asking, “Given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you want as a dinner guest?”

Alex gave him an odd look, but still answered with, “Brendon Urie. Why do you want to know that?”

Michael scrambled for an excuse, but just went for the closest to the truth he was willing to go. “It’s just that I come in here every day and we make small talk, but I feel like I don’t really know who you are,” Michael paused for a second and decided if he was going to share that much, he could at least go a little more. “And...outside of my family, you are probably the closest thing I have to a friend.”

Alex melted at that and stopped making the drink for a minute in order to come over and talk to Michael. “Well, if that’s the case, what else do you want to know?”

After that it went smoothly for a while. He learned that what Alex really wanted to do was make music. He learned that Alex sings to himself almost every day, especially when he is alone in the shop, but he rarely sings in front of other people. He learned that Alex is most grateful in life for his friends.

But, when he asked Alex if there was anything he would change about the way he was raised, Alex seemed to shut down, gave him a vague “a lot” as an answer and went back to making his drink.

About a minute later Alex turned back around with his drink. “It’s a coffee Arnold Palmer, so instead of tea, it has coffee mixed with lemonade,” Alex said and then promptly turned around to clean the counter instead of saying anything else to Michael.

So, Michael took the hint and decided that it was time to leave, he had to get to work anyway. So much for the 36 questions that lead to love. He’ll have to scrap that plan and hope that by tomorrow Alex will even want to talk to Michael again.

**\+ One**  
Michael promised Max and Liz that he would babysit Bella today, however they failed to mention that they would be dropping her off at 5:30 in the morning. So, now he was heading over to his normal coffee shop with a three year old who was somehow a ball of energy at only 6 AM.

Things with Alex went back to normal almost immediately, but Alex also pretended that the day of asking questions never happened and when Michael tried to bring it up again, Alex shut down again. So, it wasn’t a step forward, but it also wasn’t a step back, plus he learned to avoid the subject of childhood around Alex.

When he walked into the shop, Alex turned away from whatever he was doing and was surprised to see a small child running up to the counter.

When Alex gave him a questioning glance, Michael picked up Bella and explained, “This is my niece and goddaughter Bella.” She started to wriggle in his arms so that she could get a better look at Alex.

Alex smiled at her and said, “It is nice to meet you Bella, I’m Alex.”

Bella’s face immediately brightened up and Michael knew that bringing her here was a mistake, after all she spent a lot of time with Isobel. “Are you the Alex that Uncle Mikey is always talking about?”

Alex blushed, but still mustered up the courage to ask, “Always talking about, huh?”

Michael on the other hand was red as a tomato and when he heard Alex ask what kind of things Michael was saying about him, Michael decided it was time to interrupt. “It’s not that important. What is important is that I need my daily caffeine in order to keep up with this monster,” he said poking Bella in her belly. “And I guess she could use a hot chocolate too.”

Even though he tried to steer the conversation away from him, it seemed like Bella wanted to stay on topic for once in her life. “Uncle Mikey says that you are really pretty and he wants to ask you out, but he doesn’t know how. Isn’t that what you said Uncle Mikey?” She says as she looks up at him with an innocent look on her face.

Alex stops making his drink and looks back at him with a hopeful face which gives Michael the courage to say, “Yeah, something along those lines.”

Alex blushes and smiles, but goes back to mixing his drink. Less than a minute later, he is handing Michael the hot chocolate and a drink he calls a sparkling espresso.

Michael starts to get disappointed when he doesn’t bring up the fact that he knows Michael wants to ask him out, when he looks down at the cup and notices a phone number scribbled out on it with the words “I’m free Friday” written below it. He looks back at Alex with pure unadulterated happiness and sees Alex giving him a bright smile back before he is being dragged out of the coffee shop by Bella.

“So,” Bella said, drawing out the word for a while, while Michael just stared at her quizzically, “what did he write on the cup?”

“What?” Michael asks, more out of pure shock than anything.

“I set it up per-fic-ly for him to ask you out, just like Aunt Izzy said to,” she said in her broken three year old English, “did he?”

“Wait, what?”

“I’ll just ask Aunt Izzy later,” Bella said with an eye roll and they just kept on walking.

**Author's Note:**

> All the coffees that I mention actually exist, so you can look them up if you are curious about them.
> 
> Also, the 36 Questions that Lead to Love is an actual article that was written in the New York Times.


End file.
